Buhari canvasses for more concessional resources for growth

President Muhammadu Buhari has called for more concessional resources through the International Development Association (IDA) 20 replenishment and accompanying choice of policy menu to galvanise the growth momentum required to assist Africa in its long-term development aspirations.

Speaking through the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, at the African Heads of States Summit on IDA in Abidjan, Buhari said since they last met in Paris under President Macron’s initiative, “we had all resolved to be emphatically resolute in underscoring the imminent threats to Africa’s decade long developmental gains and solicit the support of the international community to strengthen the outcomes.”

He explained the leaders were hopeful that together, a very robust replenishment awaits them in Tokyo, positing that:

“Given the enormity of the challenges, if we are not strongly purposeful on the African agenda, Sub- Saharan Africa will not be able to fully attain the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

“Although, we have been consulting both bilaterally and under the umbrella of the ECOWAS and the AU, our meeting today is to continue this discussion by engaging with our trusted partner – the World Bank Group especially IDA which has remained in solidarity with us for all this while.

According to him, Africa’s resource needs are consistent with that of the SDGs as encapsulated in the 2015 Addis Ababa declaration of Financing for development document ‘From Billions – to – trillions.

“We agree that these needs cannot be met with Official Development Assistance (ODA) alone, we are, therefore, stepping up our domestic resources mobilisation efforts, but the pandemic has created a new sense of urgency and gravity.

“For us in Africa, apart from the threats of the third wave of the pandemic and the lack of access to affordable vaccine in a timely manner, there is severe food crisis ravaging most of our countries and this has great implications on our human capital index. This is in addition to the ravaging impacts of climate change as evidenced in the Sahel, Lake Chad and Horn of Africa.

Given the current lack of fiscal space and increasing debt vulnerabilities, addressing all these, according to him, requires a combination of political will, a fully reformed policy arena and a pool of concessionary resources.

“We must continue to build partnerships and global solidarity, especially with the most vulnerable population most of who are domiciled in Africa.

“The World Bank Group (WBG) and indeed the international community cannot afford to claim success in their mandates with Africa still left behind in almost every sphere of life,” he stated.

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